Down Station

Down Station #1

by Simon Morden

A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through...and find themselves on a wild shore backed by cliffs and rolling grassland. The way back is blocked. Making their way inland they meet a man dressed in a wolf's cloak and with wolves by his side. He speaks English and has heard of a place called London - other people have arrived here down the ages - all escaping from a London that is burning. None of them have returned. Except one - who travels between the two worlds at will. The group begin a quest to find this one survivor; the one who holds the key to their return and to the safety of London.

And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures, split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realise they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been.
Reminiscent of Michael Moorcock and Julian May this is a grand and sweeping science fantasy built on the ideas, the legends, the memories of every London there has ever been.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, London, Speculative Fiction, Magic

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2016

About the author

Aka S.J. Morden
Dr. Simon Morden, B.Sc. (Hons., Sheffield) Ph.D (Newcastle) is a bona fide rocket scientist, having degrees in geology and planetary geophysics. Unfortunately, that sort of thing doesn’t exactly prepare a person for the big wide world of work: he’s been a school caretaker, admin assistant, and PA to a financial advisor. He’s now employed as a part-time teaching assistant at a Gateshead primary school, which he combines with his duties as a house-husband, attempting to keep a crumbling pile of Edwardian masonry upright, wrangling his two children and providing warm places to sleep for the family cats.

His not-so-secret identity as journeyman writer started when he sold the short story Bell, Book and Candle to an anthology, and a chaotic mix of science fiction, fantasy and horror followed. Heart came out to critical acclaim, and Another War was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award, but with The Lost Art, things suddenly got serious. Contracts. Agents. Deadlines. Responsibility. Scary stuff. The Lost Art was subsequently a finalist for the Catalyst Award for best teen fiction.

As well as a writer, he’s been the editor of the British Science Fiction Association's writers’ magazine Focus, a judge for the Arthur C Clarke awards, and is a regular speaker at the Greenbelt Arts Festival on matters of faith and fiction. In 2009, he was in the winning team for the Rolls Royce Science Prize.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came into this one pretty blind, but one thing is clear: Starting out in modern London, it pretty much finishes as far away as you can get from there, at least in terms of being grounded in the normal.

There was a slight hint of SF, but all in all, it's a fantasy more reminiscent of a blend of Donaldson and Palladium Rifts, with a heavy blend of Ley-Line Geomancy and deep-core transformation magic. I was worried, at first, that the appearance of werewolves might turn it into something a little less original, but the wild transformations that both the characters go through in their psyches and their bodies makes this a much more interesting fantasy than it first appears.

Very strong opening. Starting in London like this was exciting and strange and winding up in a new world was particularly great. I did kinda wish that it got right into the faster pace of the later novel, though, or at least skipped the mundane survival bits. That might just be me, though. I really enjoyed the wild action later, though, and I think this will be a real treat for those of us that miss the old 80's Fantasy scene with a modern feel and updated magic sensibilities. I mean, Geomancy, people!

Fun stuff!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the premise of the book was quite interesting and the story was generally decent, I just never found the characters engaging. They just always felt a little under developed and shallow most of them being pretty much walking cliches. On the other hand the magic system and setup was very interesting with the world reshaping those who have crossed over and the magic linked to the geographic lines
The plotting was generally good but the pace between POV changes was a bit uneven and abrupt.
There were some well written moments and I could see the point the author was trying to make about inner selves but it all got a bit too laboured at points.For all the attempted development the characters still felt pretty much the same at the end as they did at the start
I think what it all comes down to is that the book really could have done with a bit more depth and background to give it a bit more meat. By the end , I found it hard to care what happened to any of the characters.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning to those who don't like reading the F-word a lot. There is a character who uses the F-word all the time. Do young people really talk like that nowadays? I found it annoying and distracting after awhile.

I liked this adventure tale. The basic premise is 'what if you were in extreme danger and could open a door to another world just by thinking about how much I want to escape'. The world the handful of characters from London find is like a pristine wilderness. No people, no buildings. Just the sea, beach, river, grass, trees, and mountains in the distance. Little do they know that there are people around, just not very many, and some of the people are dangerous.

There are two main characters and the story goes back and forth in chapters of their POVs. First there's a 19 year old girl (the one who swears constantly) who grew up in an orphanage and had some bad experiences that left her hardened. The second is a young Sikh man who tries to stay true to his heritage despite the troubles he experiences. Later in the novel he has a moral dilemma that is quite interesting. The side characters are a man of Slavic descent and a few women. They are all city people and used to just going to a store for food and so don't know quite what to do about food when they are stuck in a wilderness.

The world is not as devoid of people as first appears. And there are some real 'bad guys' around. The Sikh guy wants to follow the stuff he's been taught about how to behave, to be kind to others, etc. Stuff that doesn't get you far in this world they find themselves in.

There's also magic. And one of the characters has a natural magic ability. There's also a dragon! And I think I'd better stop here so I don't spoil things. I wish I could tell you more but I have to be vague and just say lots of interesting stuff happens.

[proxyfish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed on my blog - Books by Proxy

I received this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

Initially I requested this book because.. well.. it has a pretty cover! However, after attending the Gollancz Book Festival in Manchester and seeing a very funny Simon Morden on the panel, I couldn’t wait to crack this book open. Down Station is a novel about fresh starts and new beginnings, about bravery and loyalty and the nightmares that haunt us, and the determination of the human spirit. This is a sweeping science fantasy which harks back to genre traditions and takes the reader into a world of strange magics and even stranger creatures.

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Down Station follows the tale of a group of multi-ethnic Londoners who find themselves transported to another world – Down – following a fiery encounter whilst working on the London Underground. For some, Down provides a chance for them to escape their pasts, escape the expectations of others and give them a new start in a land where anything may just be possible. For others, Down is hell and they will do anything they can to get back to London and the world that they know.

From the opening pages, Down Station sets a pace which is maintained throughout the novel. With barely a dull moment and an open ending which seems to yell sequel, this novel is a refreshing and somewhat whimsical read. However, there were elements of the narrative which could have used a little more depth and explanation. The overriding danger which quite literally exploded into the opening chapters dissipated upon our company’s arrival in Down. Though there were plenty of dangers present in this strange new world – eaten by a monstrous fish? Sure! Carried off by a hungry eagle? Why not! – the narrative lacked the urgency and desperation that perhaps it should have had.

The world of Down, however, is certainly a captivating place which is portrayed in beautiful short passages of description. The similarities to an Earth of the past are quite apparent and though strange beasts and plants were hinted at if not described outright, I would have preferred Down’s otherworldliness to have been more apparent. Having said that, this is a world which is accessed by a portal from our own so perhaps a sense of familiarity was the intention all along.

The magic system Morden has created certainly makes up for any similarities to our own world but, again, the danger could have been turned up a notch. This is a world where, if you have the ability, anything is possible – you can be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do – but not without paying a price. Either you take control of your powers or they will certainly take control of you. The times when our protagonists were confronted by this strange magic certainly made for interesting reading.

The most intriguing aspect of this magic system, however, has to be its worldbuilding element. This is a world powered by magic, a magic which runs along lines of power which connect one portal to another. It is at these intersections that Down starts to respond to its inhabitants and the magic truly happens. Castles, fortresses, towns and villages spring up in righteous glory from the earth or fall into rot and ruin until they disappear into decay. Simon Morden has created something that sits well in the fantasy genre but has a distinctly unique feel to it which I only hope will continue to grow in future novels.

Down Station also has a whole host of characters to sink our teeth into too (if you so wish). Our main protagonists are Mary and Dalip, who are both incredibly likeable but in completely contrasting ways. Even Mary’s verbal diarrhoea when it came to f-bombing only serves to make her a more believable character. Morden manages to depict their personalities incredibly well by including their thoughts and beliefs throughout the narrative and both these characters have something very distinctive and unique in their portrayal.

The secondary characters could perhaps have done with a little more attention as, though they featured heavily throughout the novel, it felt like we never got to learn much about their lives or motivations. Their snapshot depictions were enough to keep me reading but these intriguing hints only left me wanting more! The villains of the piece also suffered from the ‘lack of danger’ present in parts of the plot and, even though they were ruthless and dangerous, they almost felt devoid of both ruthlessness and danger. This, however, did not stop it from being an absorbing read. All the right elements were there, I just wanted more!

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Down Station is a fun and interesting read which I zipped through in no time at all! Though there were elements of the novel which I felt could have used a bit more depth, this didn’t spoil my enjoyment and I’m sure fans of both science fiction and fantasy will find enough to keep them happy! I’ll certainly be on the look out for more books by Simon Morden… and perhaps next time I can get one I can get signed!

[Mpauli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the link to my video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-irR...

Enjoy! :)

[Chris Comerford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally posted at Geek of Oz here.

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Part of the problem I've always had with Star Wars: Episode I is its inability to live up to its potential. It'd be easy to love or hate a film that's entirely awesome or terrible, but dealing with one which lies somewhere in the middle is a little tougher. The trailers and marketing made it seem like a spellbinding sojourn into the prehistory of popular culture's most beloved space opera franchise, showing a vibrant world before Darth Vader's Empire. Then the final film came out, and all those gorgeous visuals and intriguing characters were wasted, not given the space they needed to develop into something iconic or matching the potential implied by the trailers. Whatever else you could call it, Episode I was, in every sense of the word, a letdown.

I could say the same of Down Station, a quasi-modern-day fantasy with a premise that's almost entirely squandered on lacking characters and a wafer-thin plot. It's a shame, because the book's premise and opening chapters left me excited; in practice, like Episode I, it fails to live up to its potential.

A freak firestorm causes London Underground workers Mary, Dalip and Stanislav, along with several of their cohort, to flee through a door in the subway tunnels of Britain. The door sends them to a strange and seemingly deserted shore with an unfamiliar sky, leaving no means of getting back. After trying to discern where they've ended up, several of the survivors, including Dalip and Stanislav are captured by a geomancer and her wolf-man enforcer; the geomancer wants to know which London they've come from, and why they're here. At the same time, Mary is taken in by resident enigma Crows, a man who's seemingly lived in these parts for a long time and has a personal beef with the geomancer. He wants Mary's help in bringing the geomancer down, and subtly guides her in the ways of a strange new form of magic.

Did that paragraph sound a tad confusing? If so, then you're beginning to get a good idea of why I didn't enjoy Down Station.

I want to say up front that I didn't detest the book with the same passionate intensity I reserve for recent efforts like Swords and Scoundrels. It's abundantly clear that Simon Morden is a talented writer, even if the story's not up to scratch; the prose, when given clarity, is quite well done, and the initial plot hook carries a lot of potential. Unfortunately, that potential is never reached.

At its basest level, Down Station fails because I felt utterly disconnected from the characters. Mary, Dalip and Stanislav - being the only members of the tunnel gang given anything resembling proper characterisation - are one-note and uninteresting, relying on tired traits that don't actually register them as people. Mary is stand-offish and a former criminal who swears a lot; Dalip is a naive young man progressing into adulthood; Stanislav is a gruff Eastern European war survivor who relishes violence. Every detail of the protagonists is surface level, despite meager attempts to get below that surface with hints to their lives before.

Not caring about your heroes is a problem when the plot is as tenuous and bland as it is here. The initial entry to the fantasy world, when the tunnel gang escape from a burning London, provokes intrigue that is never fully realised or paid off. The mystery of the strange island gives way to imprisonment and uprising within an enemy stronghold (for Dalip and Stanislav), and nascent training in the arts of weird magic that attempts to act as the first step of a bildungsroman (for Mary). Both plots put paid to any sense of worldbuilding, and since they rely instead on the building of tension and the breakthrough of barriers - being escape from prison and mastering magic, respectively - they are hamstrung by the aforementioned uninteresting characters. What's the big deal with Mary realising she can be free through magic, when I don't have a good sense of her figurative imprisonment to begin with? Why should I care that Dalip and Stanislav are making slow progress in training to escape from the geomancer, when I don't actually care about them as people? On that note, why should I believe the geomancer is as evil and wretched a villain as the book's characters claim she is, when she has a grand total of maybe three or four scenes and doesn't do much of note with herself?

What it all really boils down to is that I didn't care. Down Station did not make me care about its characters or its plot. The triumphant payoff to each character's arc feels more like ticking a box on the "elements of the hero's journey" checklist, rather than anything meaningful or cathartic. The resolution (if one can call it that) leaves the door open for a sequel, though I can safely say I won't be back for it if the level of failed potential on display here is present in future installments. Some might say I'm being a bit unfair to the first book of a series, and that perhaps the next book might learn from this one's mistakes to make things more engaging. To that, I'd say there are series whose first books made me care about characters far faster than Down Station did; examples like Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor and Jim Butcher's Storm Front come to mind.

There's not much more I can say about Down Station without delving into repetition, since there's not much else that caught my attention. As I said at the beginning, this isn't a bad book the way Swords and Scoundrels was, but it definitely isn't one I'd recommend to casual readers. In many ways, the books that aren't outright terrible or joyously marvelous are harder to write about, and that makes me dislike it even more. Down Station is competent in its writing yet uninteresting in its content, a thoroughly mediocre book that fails to register.

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

[I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A group of survivors from different areas of the city find themselves running in the Underground tunnels at night as a mysterious, overwhelming fire rages through London. When a portal opening on a mysterious sea opens, they quickly jump through it, knowing it's the only salvation they're going to find—that, or a painful death. Stranded in this new world, without anything to help them save for their clothes and whatever they had with them when they ran from the fire (that is to say, very little), these seven people from various backgrounds have to learn to work together and cooperate. And it sure as hell isn't easy, especially when they start getting to know each other more.

This is how “Down Station” begins, narrated through the eyes of two characters: Mary and Dalip. Overall, the story was a little “slow” at times, but never enough as to make me skim: these slower moments allowed the author to explore the mind and growth of the main characters. Although it's a bit too bad that the secondary ones weren't given so much care (Stanislav was OK, but the cousins didn't seem to do much, for instance), the various stages of self-discovery Mary and Dalip went through were really interesting to read.

Mary: orphan, foul mouth, prone to burst of angers, got in trouble with the law, was placed on probation... Basically a young woman without many means, who tends to run her mouth faster than she thinks, caught in a vicious circle: the more others see her as trash, the more she conforms to that image people have of her. Landing in the strange world of Down puts her face to face with something she hadn't expected: freedom. The freedom to go wherever she wants, to be whoever she wants to be. And that freedom is frightening, just as it might lead her to losing herself... or not?

Dalip: engineering student from a Sikh family, loyal and honest to the point of endangering himself, always wanting to do good even though sometimes “good” could very well turn and bite him (and others) back... A noble and honorable character, who nevertheless used to live under his family's thumb and never seemed to have an opportunity to discover who he could really be. As cruel as Down was, that world transformed him, made him become another, stronger man, while presenting him with challenges that might very well break his honest streak and turn him into a monster. The path to his freedom is not Mary's, not his family's, not Stanislav's: it is his, and only his.

There is magic and mystery in that world, and rules both fairly different and fairly similar to those of ours (those who have the one sought-after currency are the ones who manage to gain power, yet the most powerful potentials aren't necessarily those you'd expect at first). There is lies and treachery, hiding half-truths and precious information. The allies in this story were shifty, and the antagonists cruel—but as Mary so aptly summed it up, although they had no excuses, they had reasons to do what they did. Were they valid? Who knows? Perhaps Bell's plan could have worked. And perhaps she was just crazy, and Down would never let anyone go no matter their efforts.

I wasn't so satisfied with the ending, unfortunately, as it left quite a few doors open (is London still here, could anyone go through a portal the other way, what happened to a certain character...) without feeling like there's going to be a sequel. However, I could be mistaken about that—I really hope there's going to be one, addressing those points, as they're for me a case of “you said too much or not enough” for me. (Also, the blurb currently on Goodreads is a bit misleading, as if it was the blurb for a series rather than just one book?) No matter what, I definitely enjoyed the story and the way the main characters turned out, how they gained their freedom and what they made of it.

Conclusion: Interesting concept and character development, although I found the ending a bit abrupt. 3.5/4 stars.

[Gregoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une histoire gentillette de monde parallèle où la magie joue un rôle révélateur pour le groupe d'individus ayant échappés à la destruction de Londres
La première partie (sorte de tableau sous terrain d'apocalypse façon Daylight) m'a plus intéressé que la suite qui a un goût de déjà lu (j'ai pensé par ex à cs LEWIS avec adultes au lieu d'enfants ...)
Le groupe est suffisamment disparate entre Dalip le jeune Sikh, Mary la délinquante, Marna la matrone, Crowns et les autres aux personnalités moins fouillées, pour plaire aux véritables amateurs du genre et certainement aux plus jeunes ...
Down (le nom du monde parallèle) réserve ce qu'il faut de surprises hélas sans grande originalité mais c'est propre à la magie qui, lorsqu'elle n'est pas jugulée par des règles dès le départ, autorise tout (et n'importe quoi !) et c'est ce qui me gène le plus dans cette lecture

traduction with google help ...

A cute story of parallel world where the magic plays a revealing role for the group of individuals having escaped the destruction of London
The first part (sort of underground apocalypse that made me think of the picture Daylight) more interested me than the continuation which has a taste of already read (I thought of by ex Narnia of LEWIS with adults instead of children)
The group is ill-assorted enough between Dalip the young Sikh, Mary the delinquent, Marna the stout woman, Crowns the pirate and the others with less detailed personalities, to please the real amateurs of the genre and certainly the youngest...
Down (the name of the parallel world) reserves what it is necessary of surprises regrettably without big originality but it is peculiar to the magic world which, when it is not stopped by rules from the beginning, authorizes almost everything (that what bothers me all along my reading )

you could read a more detailed and enthousiastic review by KATE https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5... there https://forwinternights.wordpress.com...

[A.M. Steiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charmingly written but wildly inconsistent portal fantasy.

Down Station starts brilliantly, introducing a handful of finely drawn contemporary characters who find themselves magically transported from the tunnels of the London underground to a sparsely populated fantasy world named "Down". The sense of wonder that Morden evokes as they first arrive in that world is comparable with the best in the sub genre, bringing to mind Neverwhere, Elidor and Lord Foul's Bane, and the adult themes which trouble the protagonists are similarly engaging and thought provoking.

Disappointingly, after such a promising start, the story veers hard in a different direction. The content becomes a mix of wish-fulfilment, action adventure and simplistic moral choices. The sense of mystery is dulled by hand-wavy world-building, and the plot becomes more and more contrived, generic and predictable - except when the protagonists make decisions against character, which happens frequently, or develop in ways that feel completely unearned.

I have a feeling that portal fantasies live or die by their subtexts. Narnia has its commentary on childish wonder, and its Christian symbolism. Neverwhere was about marginal people. Elidor was about the displacement caused by war. Based on the marketing, I think Down Station was intended as a coming of age story about finding out who you really are through adversity, and if it had stuck with the survivalist group dynamic established in the early pages, and really dug into and drawn out the transformations of the characters, that would have worked brilliantly. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, a decision was made to focus on plot and action. I think that was a big mistake. More than any other novel I've read recently, this one left me with a feeling of massive potential unfulfilled.

[Viking Jam · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://koeur.wordpress.com/2016/07/1...

Publisher: Orion

Publishing Date: August 2016

ISBN: 9781473211469

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 3.3/5

Publishers Description: A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through…and find themselves on a wild shore backed by cliffs and rolling grassland. The way back is blocked. Making their way inland they meet a man dressed in a wolf’s cloak and with wolves by his side.

Review: Reviewers either liked this or were fairly ‘meh’ about the experience. Most thought the plot was thin, characters under developed and the world building fairly constrained. While I agree with most of the sentiments, I was still engaged. Maybe I was longing for a full leap into a magic arena that never materialized and left me constantly wanting. The characters just revolve around a finite area experiencing differing levels of magic.

The story line has been done, and although I wouldn’t say “rip-off”, the idea has been manufactured in Science Fiction. David Brin wrote “The Practice Effect” back in 1984 where ” instead of objects wearing out as you use them, they improve…”. The same goes in Down Station, only it is magic that infuses and grows within. For example, Dalip, be sheer practice becomes super strong after a week of intense training and Mary is able to manipulate matter after a short time.

The writing is good and the storyline, creative. Expand the world, insert a quest or two and start to imbue the characters with a revelatory growth in magic and you have a winner.

[Tanninsandtales · Rating 3 out of 5]

London is burning. Six Underground maintenance workers are faced with a choice: cross the door to another world or surrender to the flames. This is how they arrive at Down, a world not very dissimilar to ours except for the fact that in it magic thrives and mysteries abound.

Interestingly enough, none of the six new inhabitants of Down are white British. It was very refreshing to see an actual depiction of London demographics in literature. The story is told from the points of view of Mary, a veteran of the care system and Dalip, an overprotected engineering student from a Sikh family. Very relevant real world issues such as identity, national identity and classism are addressed in this science fantasy novel.

There is some really good world-building in Down Station as well as an intelligent magic system. Actually, at times these two elements seem to be two sides of the same coin. Mary, Dalip and Stanislav are fleshed-out and likeable characters. It is a pity that the same cannot be said of their companions and of the other denizens of Down.

At first, I was a bit reluctant to recommend this book for one single reason: I felt that this was a story that needed a lot more pages to be told. Fortunately, there is a sequel to this book. The White City is to be published later on this year. I just wished I had started this installment knowing it was not a stand-alone.

(Many thanks to NetGalley and Gollancz for the review copy).

[Waterstones St. Margaret's · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really can't rate this book highly enough, and I also think it is nicest to go in without any ideas of what you are in for! Just read it, honestly.

If you really want more information than that... it reminded me of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman except darker; Perdido Street Station by China Miéville but gentler; and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel only more magical (the station-related names probably help, yes). The chapters alternate between two main characters, who both escape a burning London to a mysterious other world. Mary is a streetsmart, ex-shoplifting, foulmouthed girl from the East End, whilst Dalip is a gentle-hearted Sikh student, trying to balance his religious values with his new life. Filled with amazing ideas, a bizarre but familiar world, and just enough trauma to keep things interesting, I urge everyone to read this book!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts with a normal nightshift, as workers on the London Underground carry out thier tasks. It very quickly becomes a scene of chaos & an escape into another world. Morden creates some good characters & their new world becomes as believable as the one they left. The only decision left is whether I continue by reading The White City, the next novel in the series, or leave it here. Down Station is a good book, but I may have to sleep on whether it's good enough to keep up with these characters on their further adventures.

[Danie Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this. Have a weakness for 'culture shock' fiction anyway (funnily enough) and enjoyed the absolute precision with which the characters were drawn, the compelling simplicity of the world of Down, and Mary's constant usage of the word 'fuck'. No fat on this book at all, charming story with just enough moments of horror to keep you on your toes. Highly recommended.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, atmospheric and rather magical look at what lies on the other side of the door...

[Brad Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book pick based solely on the power of the book cover and synopsis. I didn’t know the author, he hadn’t been recommended to me and I had not heard of the series before picking it up at a book store. This is one of the instances where the book lived up and exceeded the promise of the synopsis. This book is like a more adult, brutal, “Chronicles of Narnia”. Featuring a group of people who after being forced to try and escape a fire in the tube station in London, find themselves in a new world called Down.

This new world is full of mystery and intrigue and it’s clear after the first 100 pages that this book is not going to follow the simple formula you would expect. There is fighting pits, magic, torture and epic creature battles that keep building in tension and epic ness until a really great conclusion that leads directly into the sequel “The White City”. The theme of becoming the person who want to be in this new land permeates the book through and through. Are you going to let your past pains dictate who you will be when you get a chance to reinvent yourself? Or will you reject who the world made you be sand embrace a new you?

I appreciated the characters in this book the most, well the 3 main characters at least. Dalip, a man who has always done what his parents and his society demanded of him, Mary, a woman on the cusp of going back to prison who has always dreamed of being free and Stanislav, a man haunted by his past who feels himself being pulled back into his old life. They are each fleshed out and vivid which makes what happens to some of them heartbreaking by the climax. All in all it’s a great fantasy book with interesting themes and great set action!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Down Station is a new fantasy novel by Simon Morden, perhaps best known for his Metrozone series. It follows a small group of people flung through a portal from London, and into a strange new world, as they come to terms with their situation, and each other.

The world of Down is an interesting one. Our group of characters are cast onto it, as if onto a foreign shore, and with a similar lack of understanding. Morden makes Down feel like a large space, once where getting anywhere is going to take a little while, and doesn’t flinch from the details that make this plausible – the characters are initially concerned with survival, with supplies, with how to acquire and prepare food. It’s a world which, to them, begins as a seemingly endless emptiness. It doesn’t stay that way of course – our cast of travellers quickly meet a host of native inhabitants, some more friendly than others.

Our view of the world shifts alongside the characters, learning more as they do. It’s a land filled with mysteries – one where habitation appears to have declined, and where strange, possibly magical and certainly lethal creatures hold sway. There’s a sense of wonder which Morden evokes, as the characters become more familiar with the world, but not yet of it. Each discovery is new, exciting and intriguing – but at the same time, potentially dangerous. Morden’s world is one sculpted with care. The role humanity plays, the society our party finds themselves in, are all plausible whilst unfamiliar. The sweeping vista that the characters have before them both befuddles and beguiles them, and it’s a credit to the author that it can do the same to the reader.

From a character standpoint, the focus is on a pair of young adults - one a Sikh engineering student, the other something of a reprobate – and their relationship with the world, the rest of the group, and each other. As part of a diverse ensemble, both have their quirks – I was a particular fan of the girl, who is struggling to work a minimum wage job and keep her nose clean to escape detention, and finds that on this new world, she’s entirely responsible for herself. Morden plots out the character journey wonderfully, giving us a troubled, undeniably intelligent, but angry individual, and looking at how they adapt and change in a world which requires self-confidence and self-reliance. She moves organically over the course of the book to be, if not a more pleasant human being, certainly with greater self-awareness. This shift is done well – it feels like there’s learning and character growth visible across the pages. It helps that she’s a great character to read – largely intolerant of other people’s nonsense, typically pragmatic, but with a central core of compassion and humanity to act as a counterbalance to these traits.

Our other protagonist is, at least initially, calmer, more sure of themselves. Both character journeys are centred around understanding the self; our Sikh engineer begins more sure of themselves, and finds events conspiring to strip that self knowledge back to a central core, paring back to the essential, and the previously unknown. He’s also quite an enjoyable read – a believable refusal to let go of values which might be a disadvantage in this new world, mixed with an empathetic understanding of those around him make for a gentler, but perhaps more effective character. Again, Morden gives his protagonist responses to circumstances which seem to work – there’s no out-of-the-bule changes here, more a series of gradual movements as he becomes something new – perhaps even something heroic.

The protagonists have a fairly small but marvellously portrayed supporting cast around them. I particularly enjoyed the Slavic railywayman who accompanies the engineering student - his caustic comments and ruthlessness made for a nice contrast to the more humane central duo. The remainder of the commuter group gets a bit of time, but is largely overshadowed by that given to the antagonist; I won’t go into detail here for fear of spoilers, but fond that their driving goal, and the logic behind it, felt believable, if not exactly sympathetic.

The plot starts frantically, as our cast make their way to Down station; the frenetic pace slows a little as our group explores the world in which they find themselves, but spikes of danger and the excellent characterisation kept me turning pages. As the group moves inland, however, the narrative takes off.
There’s magic, murder, betrayal, and a series of revelations which shifted they way I thought about the characters, and the world. I’ll say no more, to avoid spoilers, but the journey that our heroes take through the world of Down is fraught, intriguing, and thoroughly compelling – I couldn’t put it down .

Is it worth reading? The world is an interesting and well realised one. The central characters are believable and feel entirely human (though I would like to see more of the supporting cast in the sequel). The plot rattles along nicely, and kept me enthralled to the last page – so yes, I’d say so.

[Sue Chant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit uneven. Some interesting ideas, some predictable characterisations, but entertaining enough that I'll probably keep an eye out for the next one.

[John Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's three workers in the London Underground: a hotheaded girl in and out of social services, a young Sikh man taking an elective for his engineering degree, and a hard-edged Slav laying new track. While they're at work, London explodes, and these three, along with a few others, take a most unlikely escape.

A lost, unassuming door deep in the service tunnels leads to a vast, untouched landscape. They eventually learn it's a place called Down, a wild, pliable place, which they will change, and will change them in turn. The girl, Mary; the boy, Dalip; and the man, Stanislav, once they set foot here, they realize it's up to them to survive. But as they remain here, and gradually understand the effect this place has on them, survival won't be enough.

It starts out promising enough, three ragtag heroes dealt a bum hand in life, at first threatened by this improbable circumstance, welcome the chance to start over. Some are more welcoming than others; the constantly underestimated hood is dazzled by the chance to start a new life without Social Services making sure she behaves herself, but the young man suddenly feeling adrift without guidance, with only his religious principles to keep him centred. The story initially appeals; it's written in a spare but nuanced voice, and the challenges initially seem like a unique take on a shipwreck or marooning story, as the survivors try to cope. Their reactions to this are realistic without being sheer, befuddled panic. They know their situation is unfathomable to them, but also know it must be faced up to.

But when other citizens of Down start to emerge, some of the seams start to burst. The logic of the world itself remains interesting: its malleability begins to affect the characters, and they realize they've become a part of something great and terrifying. At least they would, if the story didn't feel like it ground to a halt at the halfway point. The initial trials of surviving here quickly cease, as the characters then spend the rest of the book dealing with one single problem, which is resolved both incredibly easily, and incredibly slowly. Not even the tight, sharp narrative mode helps with these pacing woes.

Several of the other players of this narrative range from somewhat engaging to otherwise absent. The group are quickly told about a figure called "the geomancer" whom they're told knows something about Down. She's quickly revealed to just be kind of a hateful hag, dealt with improbable ease. Other characters, like the steward, get a lot of threatening setup, and then are dispatched with stunning indifference.

The initial inventiveness of the premise, and the hope we have for the characters, quickly crumbles when Down starts to affect them. The gifts and curses it doles out seem wildly uneven. It could tie into its logic where the people that want the most are the people that get the most, but it still leaves some of the characters frightfully overpowered, while leaving others just slightly more competent than they were before.

This might be tolerable thanks to the main characters' appealing chemistry, but this sudden pivot outright halts the character arc of at least one of the more involving characters. Once this starts to happen, he doesn't develop so much as he just steadily degrades. We can almost smell the smoke coming off his emergency brake, once the story's suddenly decided he's doomed.

So the initial story of some desperate survivors reaching a strange new land, imbued with strange, arcane magic is gripping at first, and then starts to fumble thanks to wildly disproportionate character development, pacing that went from gliding to glacial, and frankly baffling distribution of overpowered magic among the cast. The story hints that in future volumes, this seemingly unstoppable magic may have its drawbacks, but like Down itself, the untouched land full of possibilities, it has settled into outcomes I'm not interested in.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary is a teenaged black girl, on probation for theft, working in a cleaning crew on the London Underground in 2012. Dalip is a young man studious Sikh man, training to become an engineer working on replacing train track nearby with Stanislav, a middle aged man who doesn’t talk about his past. When the underground erupts in a firestorm, these three along with four other women from the cleaning crew, become trapped with the only way out being a door that leads to a sea. And from the sea leads to the place called Down, which appears as a door to people in London in times of desperation, with what appears to be no way back home.

This novel has been talked about in the context of ‘portal fantasy’, i.e. the character travels through a portal to a different world and we can all think of examples of this. The novel itself has a reference to Alice Through the Looking Glass, but thankfully does not keep referring to something else on every page. However to me, this story is attempting to revitalise portal fantasy by stripping it down. Let me explain.

When the cast arrive in the world, there is not any bustling village or gleaming city. The first indications that something is seriously odd about this world is when they see the sea monster and when the moon rises. After this, other residents of Down start emerging but in a slow reveal. They are interesting yes, but Morden changes this around by making the focus on the lead characters. The questions of how to survive in the world, wearing an orange boiler suit because it was the only clothing you were wearing when you travelled.

A lot of portal fantasy is about how the characters change the world they find themselves in. Here Down is a place that changes you. It can give you power, force you to change or make you reveal what you really are, but there can be a cost. Mary discovers power but still is faced with her anger, Dalip is forced to fight to survive and Stanislav cannot hide from his past any more. This is the sort of novel that is not violent all the way through, but when the scenes of fighting come, they are tense and disturbing.

Another way that the novel plays around with expectations, is how it handles different tropes of fantasy. There is the mysterious mentor figure, the evil queen, the castles. Maps are a form of power and a major drive of the plot, not just a key to the treasure. People may be able to gain powers, but there are still people, who just found themselves in different place. There are no races or species of magical creatures, just humans. This is another example of the way that Morden is going for a back to basics approach, to concentrate on the characters. Admittedly the main three get the majority of the narrative and development, but the concentration helps the story keep it’s focus.

This is the first novel in a series, which normally might be a warning. But it is not overlong and Morden has clearly worked to keep it tight. The world of Down in the novel is intriguing enough that you what to find out more about it and start making up. You want to follow the characters on their journey. I defiantly recommend this novel to anybody who wants to see something new and interesting done with portal fantasy.

Originally published
at SF2 Concatenation http://www.concatenation.org/frev/mor...

[Chocolategoddess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

(Vague spoilers)


I wrote a lengthy review of this but it boiled down to the same points so here are the points:

The first half of this book is really strong. Great POV characters (POC! Awesome!), secondary characters with potential, super interesting world that presents many opportunities for conflict, and generally a grand old time.

The second half was far more generic. The POVs lose many of their defining characteristics as they morph into the kind of character you find a run-of-the-mill fantasy story. The plot devolves into defeating monster after monster with no real feeling that maybe the monsters will win.

My main problem with this book was the fact that it oozed "series potential". I'm a writer working on a trilogy. I've seen this advice for years: don't write a series, write a standalone with series potential. This minimises the risk to the publisher, and gives the writer an option to write more if the first book does well. It sounds reasonable enough, but it ends up in books like this.

Morden includes characters in this book that are never fleshed out and don't need to be there--but they have the potential to be useful in a series. Questions are posed at the beginning of the book (what happened to 2012 London?) but are never answered because series potential! The main antagonist is half-heartedly defeated and given a few lines of backstory to give me some sympathy for her (it didn't) before she disappears ... surely to reappear later in a series. This is pretty annoying to be honest. I just feel let down.

Reviewing this as a standalone makes the plotting and writing look lazy and it's a real shame because this was actually a pretty good book. I don't feel I wasted my time on this and I would like to read a follow up story, although I'm concerned that the POV characters have lost too much dimension at this point to carry another novel. I'd be willing to be proven wrong on this, because Down as a world is a perfect mixture of threatening and fun and I can see a lot of entertaining shenanigans going on there.

I'd love to give it four stars, but unfortunately the frustration knocks it down to three.

[Billiebumblebee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book there was one constant question in my head - what the fuck is going on? I had no idea what was going to happen next and the events that unfolded were just completely unexpected. I had no idea who to trust and even the world itself was untrustworthy.

In other words, I really liked this book. It brought me on an adventure, and even though opening a door and finding a new world isn't very new in itself, it felt like it had something I hadn't read before. Maybe a reason for that was the way the story was told. It felt like nothing was happening in the "right order" and it didn't follow a classic way of progression. I got constantly thrown off balance and when I thought ahaaa, this is where the story is heading next, something happened and turned it all upside down. And that was refreshing.

Something else I really appreciated was the diversity of characters, our main ones - Mary and Dalip, were very different. Mary is a bad mouthed orphan on probation and Dalip is a Sikh studying engineering. They end up in very different places, having very different experiences and both got to understand new sides of themselves. But I wish I'd gotten to know some of the secondary characters better and in general I wish I'd gotten to know more about their lives in London before the ended up in Down.

Down, the world that they ended up in, is such a fascinating place and I love the idea of it responding to the people in it. But it also raised a whole bunch of questions and I thought the way magic worked was a bit unexplained.

Towards the end of the book the pile of questions was getting pretty high and I realized that there was no way, with the amount of pages left, that they would get answered in time. Which can only mean that there's going to be a sequel...right? There simply must be! But it did annoy me a little bit since I had no idea I'd signed up for reading a new series, I thought this was going to be a stand alone book.

There is nothing wrong with a book ending in unanswered questions - as long as they are going to be answered at some point. which I'm looking forward to. Until then I'm left with perhaps the biggest question of all - what that the fuck happened to London?

[Puddlyduck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Down Station is an original fantasy which adds a contemporary feel to a myth-like story. One of the strengths of Down Station is the way the author takes time to introduce us to the characters; their history, dreams, flaws and emotions. It makes their journey all the more meaningful (and in the case of the character who was originally my favourite, completely heartbreaking).

The two main protagonists, Mary and Dalip, provided very interesting and refreshing points of view. Mary is a hard edged, orphan with extreme anger issues. Dalip is a hard working, somewhat timid, young Sikh who dreams of being an architect. Magic aside - although it plays a large transformative force in the story - the characters' personal development, to their personalities, willpower, confidence (the list goes on) forms the true journey of this tale. By the end of the book Mary and Dalip are shadows of their former selves. Although I think it would be far more accurate to say that their initial incarnations are the shadows of the people they grow to become.

This character growth was not reflected in all the characters. Some of the secondary characters did feel less developed than others as time went on so when they went through big changes of their own they did feel a little rushed and unauthentic rather than a plot twist. As one of these was my initial favourite character I felt as if they were done a bit of an injustice, but this paled in favour of all the positive aspects of this book.

I did find that the end of the book felt more like the closing of one chapter rather than a true end. I would be very surprised if this book turned out to be a standalone as it did give the feel of being the beginning of a wider story arc.

Disclaimer: I received this ebook for free from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kat]

I really enjoyed this book and then made the fatal mistake of reading chapter 1 of book 2... Would definitely recommend!
Starting in modern day London it very quickly moves away from that stealing characters who work on the tube and bringing them to a different world known only as 'Down' to save them from a fire. The main three characters Mary, Dalip and Stanislav are written really well and all feel real. Mary swears all the time, Dalip forces himself to fight and do acts against his religion (Sihkism) to survive and Stanistav gradually turns darker as he forces himself to relive his time is Bosnia before he got to London.
The growth of all the characters is believable as they become More.
Plus there is plenty of backstabbing and betrayal from the other characters and no one is quite sure who the good guys are.
(Oh and Mary learns to turn into a giant eagle, the 'bad queen' turns into a dragon, Crows turns into a sea monster and there is also a wolfman)

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating portal fantasy with some very cool elements. Full review to come.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an exciting fantasy. I loved the plot and the unexpected twists enough to rate it a 4, but I won't probably reread it, my requirement for a 5.

One of the other reviewers said that the best part was the "world-building." With this plot, that's almost a pun and it made me smile. And agree.

I did like that there were characters with reasons for meeting violence with and without violence, what their different thoughts were on the topic. So many fantasy books just involve their main characters attacking everything without thought or sympathy. This book had characters that thought their way through the issues - risks, morality, training, etc. How much abuse should one tolerate before fighting back? When is showing compassion too great a risk? How much risk should one take to avoid taking the life of another? When is refusing to fight squeamishness and when is it being moral? Should one merely give up and die to avoid giving their audience the pleasure of watching them fight?

One of the other reviewers said that when the violence does happen, it was "disturbing." Yes, I'd agree with that, particularly towards the end of the book. That would bother me more if my teens were interested in reading it.

I know some readers, though, who wouldn't like this book because of the foul language in it. I know some people really talk that way, but I still don't prefer to read that either - particularly when it's so repetitious that it becomes meaningless. Repetitious rather than interesting dialog. It's better off just to translate it as "She hated pretty much everything and everyone." This repetitious bad language lowered the rating for me, but not enough to lower it to a 3. Perhaps a 3.5 would be a more accurate rating for me. I would recommend it (another 4 requirement), but not to someone who is sensitive to bad language.

Again, the language would bother me more if my teens were interested in reading it, although probably neither the violence nor the language would cause me to prevent them from reading it. We would just talk about it.

I would read the sequel.

Favorite quote:

"He was supposed to protect others, even at a cost to himself. That he'd never had to do it before might have made it easier: he had none of the messy practical experience to dilute his pure motive." I've thought that before, that true courage is when a person who's already been burned once - such as persecution - still faces their danger again willingly. It's sometimes easier to face something not knowing how it will hurt than to face it knowing how much it does.

Of course, there is a difference between the courage needed to protect someone or to do the right thing, and in just merely allowing oneself to continue being a doormat, which is, actually, not doing the right thing for one's own personhood at all.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a diverse book, this may be your book.

Down Station is about two Londoners, Dalip, and Mary, who have stumbled upon the Down a whole new world that defies's the logic of physics as they know it. Mary is an orphan with a foul mouth, anger issues. She's gotten trouble with the law, has been placed on probation. Basically, Mary has had a rough go at life and London hasn't given her any breaks. Dalip is a budding engineer from a Sikh family. He's loyal and honest and strives to do the right and good thing always. Although Down is not what they expect and is quite dangerous, it transforms them and helps them come into their own.

Down Station maintains a relatively slow pace throughout the entire book. Because of the slow pace, I did struggle to keep reading a couple of times but Dalip and Mary would swoop in and snatch my attention up pretty quickly. Although this is labeled as a sci-fi book, I feel like it appeals to the fantasy genre more than anything. I just didn't get as many sci-fi vibes as I did fantasy.

What I enjoyed most about this book was Dalip and Mary's character growth. When they arrive, Mary was brimming with anger at the world and only cared about herself. Dalip was insecure and struggling with meeting his parent's expectations. By the time you reach the end of the book Mary is a fierce and loyal friend who has literally transformed herself for the sake of others. Dalip is a strong warrior-priest, worthy of his grandfather's old stories. Also, another thing I enjoyed about this was there was no insta-love between Mary and Dalip. They remained as friends. It was a refreshing breath of air from so many insta-love stories. Although I have nothing against them, it was nice for that to not be present in this story.

I can tell with the way that Down Station ended that the beginning of Mary and Dalips story is just beginning and I can't wait to read the next book to see how they, and the world they now live in, develop.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like portal fantasies in general, because they tend to converge. Morden has not done that here.

Unfortunately the introductory section, the escape from London, is white-hot exciting and makes the rest of the book a bit of let-down.

From here on it's a bit spoilery, so you have been warned.

We have three well-considered main protagonists, and a bunch of cruelly-underrepresented others who are only there so the Good Guys can save them. We have a good guy who's not so good; not an unusual idea in fantasy, but for him at least we get a good explanation of why he is that way.

And we have the bwah-hah-hah-isn't-evil-FUN villains. Feh.

The book's built on how the three leads deal with their challenging world. We start by how hard it's going to be to find food, and they catch some fish, and I don't recall food being mentioned after that except very briefly. Putting everyone in jail helps, of course.

So, what happens to the three? We've had hints of magic. Mary learns about shadows, and three pages later she's Temeraire, looking for an armada to ravish. Dalip does some pushups, and ten pages later he's Spartacus. Stanislav, so very interesting at first, develops less positively, and I was OK with that. Apparently the magic can be tapped by people who reallyreallyreally want to. I guess it would have been too much to have one of them reallyreallyreally want to be smart enough to figure out how it all works and what happened to London. With their new powers, they deal with the Bad Guys in a way that would sound difficult if described but came across as trivially easy for our freshly-minted superheroes.

I'll read #2 if it appears in my lists, but I won't seek it out. It's nagging at me that Mama could turn out to be the most powerful of them all, but I may just be thinking of 100 past books set in New Orleans, and no one here's gonna walk on gilded splinters.

[JUDITH DICKINSON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fleeing from a raging fire in the London underground the characters find themselves trapped in an alien land. With no way to return to their world they have to adapt to the strangeness around them. Who or what can they trust? Even those who seem to want to help them have treacherous motives. The three main characters develop slowly as we learn more of their background stories. Dalip is very unsure of himself, forced to do things that go against his upbringing, his knowledge of right and wrong. Stanislav has demons in his history, things that lurk in his nightmares. Mary is the one I have a little trouble with. She has come up through children's homes and social care, having been in trouble of various types throughout her childhood. While I can appreciate that her character has been built around this history, it is portrayed mostly through her language. One four letter word seems to define her. I have no objections to swear words in stories but surely a girl growing up with a troubled background surrounded by street gangs and other bad influences would have a more varied vocabulary.
I did enjoy the way that the group worked to understand their predicament and fought for their survival. I have just started the follow up 'The White City' to see where their journey takes them. Will they ever find a way back to the real world?

[Jim Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to start the book due to the premise of being thrust into an unknown land and having to figure out the how and why. That being said I was drawn in to the shallowest level due to its overt leftist ideas and hints that seemed to be thrust into the middle of the dialog and story. The immigrant leaving the destruction of their homeland only to be assaulted and arrested and feared as foreigners. The only white people in the book (aside from the two pointless French sisters) go insane kill tourture and imprison people. It refers to neo-nazis in a conversation for no reason other than to ensure the reader that it existed. I fully endorse adding political views into a novel as long as it's not a preaching pile of rhetoric.

The plot we decent enough, given that you are constantly reminded of racism and injustice by native people. Though there is absolutely no character development at all and most of the characters are ignored and add nothing other than filler material and dialog.

I really wanted to like this “confederate yankee in king Arthur's court” attempt at modern day leftism. Sadly, though I finished it and I doubt I will read the second novel in the series.